Leading independent record shop shuns Record Store Day: Having played along in recent years, OYE partner Markus Lindner announced today that OYE stores would not take part in 2016, explaining that although responsible for many good things – including increasing awareness of independent shops – RSD has developed in a way that no longer sits comfortably with OYE’s objectives.
Famed California record store may soon sell weed instead: Berkeley residents may be able to pick up hi-fi vinyl, and high-potency OG Kush in one stop this year. The legendary Berkeley record store Amoeba Records is close to securing a new lease on life, as sales of physically recorded music continue to decline. Amoeba is one of three finalists for the city’s fifth medical marijuana dispensary license. Thursday evening, the Berkeley Medical Cannabis Commission selected Amoeba to forward to the Berkeley City Council for final selection.
From broken roofs to broken marriages: meeting some of the most obsessive vinyl hoarders: Like most people, music was always on in my house as a child, but with a small difference: My father was a vinyl collector. Not in the “I buy two or three records a week” way, more in the “I have 13 fucked turntables piled up at my backdoor and you can’t get upstairs” way.
Rush Hour store gets new location, to host opening weekender: Amsterdam’s key record store and eclectic electronic music imprint Rush Hour announced today that it is getting a new location. To celebrate its new home, which will be on the same street as it now is, RH is throwing a three-day weekender in April. After being its home for more than 17 years now, the well-known location on Spuistraat 98, the record store is now moving to a bigger space in the same street, on number 116 to be exact.
A record shop and cafe has opened in Gap on Oxford Street: Operated by Clapton’s Lion Coffee + Records, the space will sell a small selection of new releases and classic reissues on vinyl until Record Store Day on 16th April, although it’s not really clear how buying records at Gap will help the independent retailers Record Store Day was set up for.
Massive collection of 100,000 vinyl records up for sale: SWEDISH pop group ABBA knew it in the ’70s. Now veteran record collector Trevor Cowling is finding out the hard way that breaking up is never easy. Mr Cowling, 74, has been searching for a buyer for his collection of more than 100,000 vinyl records, cassettes and CDs, but he now concedes he may have to sell the record haul in parts. An entire room of Mr Cowling’s West Lakes home is enveloped with shelves containing music stacked to the 3m-high ceiling and boxes covering the floor.
Cassettes are making a comeback, but think before you drink the Kool-Aid: Though I’ve long argued that the resurgence in sales of vinyl records over the past several years is a direct result of ear fatigue generated by listening to compressed digital audio files for far too long, the potential rebirth of the cassette seemed to back up the contrary argument – that all of this “return to analog” stuff really is a case of hipster trend-hopping, not a demand for better-sounding music.
